About us

Where are a family of four, Esben and Vibe with the kids Runa and Mattis. We are originally from Denmark, but since late 2010, we have lived near the city of Bremerhaven in Northern Germany.
We moved here when Vibe got a PhD position working with marine biogeochemical models at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Research, and later stayed when she continued in a PostDoc position in the same institute after finishing the PhD.
Before coming here, we lived in Gothenburg, Sweden, for three years, while Vibe completed her studies in physical oceanography. As a couple, it has been possible to move around so much because Esben’s job focuses on setting up biogas plants throughout Europe. He therefore travels a lot for his job, meaning the exact location of our home base is not a big issue – as long as we don’t move too far from Denmark.
Our oldest daughter, Runa, was born in Sweden and was one when we moved to Germany, and our son Mattis, was born here in Germany at the local hospital in 2013. The kids have been brought up bilingual and are currently attending German Kindergarten and Grundschule in the village where we live.

Mattis as Runa
Mattis is the LEGO master of the house. He loves playing with his sister, and hates when he is too small for something. Mattis hardly ever gets seasick for some reason.

Runa is the one who always notices how people are feeling. Her friends and family are the most important part of her life, and when we go somewhere new she will soon have new friends to play with. She speaks German and Danish, and is starting to learn English, so talking to new friends is usually easy. She is not keen on sailing, but loves exploring new places. And nobody handles being seasick as well as her.

Esben
Esben is the photographer in the family. He loves taking walks to look for exactly the right light. But is not so patient when it comes to photographing us 😉 He is also the go-to person when mechanical things needs fixing. He just can’t help it, but needs to figure out how things work. For example, the first year we went on summer holidays on Chip-Chip he figured out the wind wane while sailing and he almost burned down the boat as he figured out how to use our notorious stove. But thanks to him, now we know how everything works on board.
Esben builds biogas plants, so he’s usually away on his job for a couple of weeks at a time, and then home for a couple of weeks.

Vibe
I started this page because I missed writing. In all honesty writing is a part of my job, but scientific writing is just very different from relatively quickly writing your thoughts in a blog post. So here I am, and we’ll see how it turns out.

A recurring theme is the ocean; it’s where I grew up, where I am and have been spending a lot of my free time – and it’s the focus of my research.
I grew up in a small coastal village in Denmark and since I was a kid I have enjoyed the freedom of sailing. As a teenager I started diving in the local dive club, and before starting university I decided to take a year off to go sailing and diving. After saving up money to travel by working in a pub in Switzerland, I boarded a sailing yacht in Lisbon, Portugal, and crewed on the boat for the next few months, sailing to the Canaries and then across the Atlantic to the island of Tobago. I stayed in Tobago for another six months training towards and working as a PADI dive master.

After returning to Denmark I finished a bachelor in biology, only interrupted by a year of traveling, diving and learning when I was awarded the European Rolex scholarship. Upon returning, I had realized that I wanted to learn more about the motions of the ocean, and therefore moved to Gothenburg in Sweden to study physical oceanography. Luckily, Esben didn’t mind moving! After finishing my studies, I got a PhD position at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Research in Bremerhaven, and this is where we currently live.